The Queen and the Duke
by maidstonespotato
Summary: Vivaldi is oblivious to Gowland's epiphany when he sees her at the park. You say crack pairing, I say OTP.
1. I've Just Seen a Face

**A.N. **

Despite all the bishies in Wonderland, Vivaldi is my favourite character. I tend to ship her with a lot of people and Gowland just ended up being my preferred suitor for her. That's pretty much the best and only way I can describe how this fic came into existence.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. **

**The Queen and the Duke**

If there was one place Vivaldi enjoyed more than the rose garden, it was the amusement park. The bright colors, the tasty treats, the screams of the patrons; it was an entertaining territory.

However, Vivaldi found little pleasure in roller coasters or cotton candy.

It was only in the venues, surrounded by plush animals, where she felt like the young faceless girl she once was long ago. She didn't like to think that girl was completely gone, but merely masked by the strong woman she had become.

The adorable plush animals reminded her of past visits to the amusement park with her family. The fabulous parades she watched on her father's shoulders, Blood crying because he was too short to go on most of the rides, the stuffed animals she would bring home by the armful, all these memories and more were drifting in a nostalgic wave throughout the park. In addition, the amusement park was always adding new toys to satisfy her passion for cuteness, and to ensure her patronage.

"What brings you here, Vivaldi?"

Gowland pulled Vivaldi out her current thoughts. She turned to berate him for bringing her back to reality, but the words died on her tongue when she caught sight of him. Gowland looked no different from usual, but it was what he was holding that caught her attention.

There, in one arm across his chest, Gowland was carrying the most adorable thing Vivaldi had ever seen.

* * *

><p>Gowland inwardly cringed when he caught sight of the tyrant roaming around his park: again.<p>

True, she left him alone and never did any damage to the park or patrons, but she was an annoying woman all the same. Still, Gowland always did his best to be civil with the ladies; even if his encounters with Vivaldi were anything but civil. Their conversations always ended with them insulting each other, but right away Gowland knew something was wrong.

Vivaldi's face didn't hold its usual disappointment or annoyance when she saw him.

Instead she looked...different.

Large doe eyes replaced her usual cold stare, and there was a blush painted across her cheeks. It took a moment for Gowland to realize that Vivaldi was staring intently at him.

He quickly concluded it was disturbing.

Vivaldi did not GAZE and she did not BLUSH; especially at men. Yet here she was; looking like a love struck teenager with infatuation sparkling in her eyes.

At that moment, a light went off in Gowland's head as the dots connected one by one. Vivaldi's constant visits to the park, their trivial quarrels, and the heated gaze she was giving him. It all made sense; the overbearing Queen of Hearts had the hots for him.

* * *

><p>"What's that in your arm?" Gowland jumped a bit from Vivaldi's sudden outburst (she was too consumed by the cuteness to control the volume of her voice) and looked down to what he was carrying in his arm.<p>

"Oh, this? It's a new line of toys we're carrying." Vivaldi was too enamoured with the plush animal to notice Gowland regarding her with a quizzical look on his face.

"How much?"

"Uh...you...you want to buy it?"

"Well if I didn't, why would I be inquiring about the price? Honestly, only a man could be capable of asking such a stupid question."

Gowland ignored her comment and held out the plush in front of him to study it. Vivaldi's patience was wearing thin after a few moments; there was no reason he needed to take this long to think of a price. His glance kept on switching back from the plush to Vivaldi and it was positively vexing her. She was about to issue his beheading when he made his offer, "Here."

He held out the plush to her and Vivaldi accepted it graciously.

"How much do I owe you?" Gowland shifted his feet and let out a heavy sigh, "Just take it. You could have bought a hundred of those things with what you've paid in admission so far."

"I don't come here that often, you insufferable man!"

Gowland gave a small chuckle, happy to see the Queen regaining some of her spite back, "Whatever. Just... don't read into this ok?"

Vivaldi arched an eyebrow trying to decipher Gowland's last remark.

After a few seconds, she decided it wasn't important.

Her father would have been jealous of her getting a plush without at least trying to win it a dozen times. She could still see the annoyance on her mother's faceless face as she watched her husband waste all their money for one "dumb stuffed piece of trash" (her mother's words). Her father was horrible at carnival games and never improved, but he always made sure his little girl left with a stuffed animal.

"Regardless...thank you." Vivaldi allowed herself to give Gowland a small smile of gratitude. She could only do such a thing in this territory of cuteness, nostalgia and happy memories. Vivaldi turned her back to him and walked back to her castle, ecstatic for her newly found friend and completely oblivious to the rejection she just faced.

* * *

><p>Gowland watched Vivialdi as she walked away. The least he could do was give her the plush. He didn't like Vivaldi, but that didn't mean he enjoyed shooting her down. Making women cry was just never his thing.<p>

Vivaldi didn't seem like the type of woman who would handle rejection quietly, so to ensure the safety of his customers, he had to let her down gently.

Still, he would never forget Vivaldi's smile or that look on her face when she first saw him. He denied that she looked cute when she blushed.

She looked different, definitely not cute. Besides, she was totally into him.

He didn`t quite know how to handle having a misandrist infatuated with him, but it still felt good knowing he charmed the shrew.

Gowland ran his hand through his hair and in a unsurprised tone remarked to himself, "I still got it."


	2. With a Little Help From my Friends

**A.N. **Yup, it's an ongoing story now

THIS STORY IS NOW RATED T BECAUSE BORIS IS A VERY NAUGHTY KITTY!

**_**Chapter Two – With a Little Help from My Friends**_**

They were everywhere. The ugly beasts continued to rush at him, a wave of decaying flesh ebbing closer and closer as their screams rang out through the deserted city. His ammo was running low, he had to reload and fast if he wanted to make it out alive. His shoes hit the pavement hard, a signal to the undead that he was getting away. He turned to fire, but it was too late. It was too close, its jaws opened wide to rip off a piece a flesh when a gunshot rang out. A mass of red and gore exploded from the thing's head and it quickly fell to the ground.

PLAYER TWO HAS JOINED

Boris looked over to see a girl smiling while holding the arcade hand gun at the screen. At first he was annoyed that someone was trying to show him up at his own game, but soon that annoyance changed into interest. She was impressive, nobody had beaten his scores at shooter games yet this girl was holding her own pretty well. He even grudgingly admitted that she saved him a few times, but he saved her more. Boris noticed that the girl was rather cute with her industrial glaring right at him. There was a tiny stud on the right side of her nose and a ring circled her bottom lip.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer."

Boris sincerely hoped this girl wasn't a dog lover.

"Sorry, cats have a habit of staring."

"Don't they only stare if they're trying to assert their dominance? Or do you prefer someone else to do the dominating?"

Boris' tail twitched in delight. His shooter screamed in agony as he was eaten alive by undead corpses, but Boris didn't care. The zombies didn't hold his interest anymore.

"Cats also have a tendency to stare at things that interest them, like piercings…"

The girl's smirk widened and she put the gun back in the plastic slot in the machine. With a full profile of her face, Boris could see that this girl loved piercings just as much as he did. Another stud was on her chin and she had several eyebrow piercings. He also noticed that her left ear was more pierced than the right with a small chain wrapped around the lobe of her ear through the intricate metal hoops.

"Since you like piercings so much, I could show you mine. Of course…"

The girl closed the distance between her and Boris. She stood on her tiptoes to lean into Boris' ear to whisper, "we have to go to someplace private where I can show them to you."

Before Boris could grab the girl's hand and take her to his room, someone grabbed the collar of his shirt and started dragging him out of the arcade. Boris turned his head to see Gowland pulling him with such force he didn't know the old man had. "What are you doing, old man?"

He could do nothing but look back at his would-be fling in anguish. Finally, he was dropped on the ground and he glared up at his landlord.

"What the hell was th—"

"Vivaldi is in love with me."

Boris's snarl dropped from his face from a moment from the pure absurdity of Gowland's statement before resuming to its deathly glare. The old man was NOT taking him away from a girl who had more piercings than he did just because his loneliness finally drove him insane.

"I don't have time for this!" Boris got up on his feet and began storming away before Gowland grabbed hold of his collar again.

"You don't understand! Vivaldi, THE Queen of Hearts-"

"Yeah, I know who she is, and I'm pretty sure she's not in love with you. Not let me go before I do something crazier than believing the Queen is in love with me." Before Gowland could say anything, he was staring down the barrel of Boris' hot pink gun.

"You really want to do this, Boris?"

"I would rather be doing someone else right now, but if it means I have to shoot you first then I'm not holding back."

Gowland let out a heavy sigh, "Just hear me out… please."

Boris raised one of his eyebrows and his ears twitched. Gowland wasn't one of the more 'impressive' role holders in Boris' mind. He had a stupid name, he was only feared when he was playing his violin, and he was easygoing which was the main reason Boris decided to stay with him. The old man may not have impressed Boris very much, but he knew Gowland was no pushover (he did fight off the mafia and Queen's guards after all) and was one of the last people to say please. Boris put his gun back in the holster as he rolled his eyes and pinned his ears back against his head.

"Okay…why do you think Vivaldi is in love with you?"

He would have to find out if the zombie shooter girl had a Nefertiti piercing later.

* * *

><p>Gowland did not expect this to happen. He walked away from Vivaldi his head held high and his ego soaring even higher. After a few minutes the feeling wore off. Doubt replaced confidence, worry gnawed at him from the inside.<p>

The image of her blushing and smiling up at him continued to flash through his mind. He had never seen her like that before and it was driving him crazy. The only logical thing he could do was go freak out with someone. Unfortunately for Boris, he was the only one available at that moment.

After telling Boris his encounter with the Queen of Hearts the Cheshire Cat looked at him with that "cat stare" he always did when he was annoyed. His ears were flattened against his head, his tail was ominously still and his eyes were set in a perfect glare.

"She doesn't love you old man."

"…She doesn't?"

"No, you idiot. She does that 'wide eyed, blushing' look to me." Boris' face was in his palms, he couldn't believe he was torn away from the girl of his dream for this. "Did you have anything with you? Anything… cat related?"

"Well, I had a new cat plush with me…but…she was nice to me even after I gave it to her."

Boris' frown twitched with his tail, dubious of Gowland's account of what had happened. There was no way Vivaldi would continue to be civil after receiving the plush. After a few moments, Boris stopped face palming and spoke up, "invite her back to the park."

Gowland jumped back a bit. He was still off balance from his last visit and that was only a few hours ago, he wasn't ready to see her again.

"Why?"

"We have to find out if she really likes you or she just liked the stuffed cat. I'll be with you when she shows up, so if she goes all 'lovey-dovey' and starts petting my ears, then we know she doesn't have any feelings for you. If she's still nice to you and gives you the time of day then…" Boris gulped as if he was trying to swallow a rotten piece of fish and spoke in an offended tone, "I guess she…likes you…"

Gowland picked up on Boris' obvious doubt that Vivaldi had feelings for him. Okay, he admitted that he wasn't the most popular role holder, but he could still charm the ladies just as well as anybody else. Besides, after seeing Boris' taste in women (and sexual activities) he couldn't talk.

"Fine. I'll send out the invite."

Gowland walked quickly to his office eager to write the letter. A part of him wanted to show Boris that he was capable of charming the Queen of Hearts, yet another part was seriously scared of the consequences of her infatuation.

* * *

><p>It was a splendid tea party. The evening sun crept through Vivaldi's windows and pooled its warm light into her room. She sat at the small table sipping her favourite rose tea while her friends sat at the table. Not one of them had touched their cupcakes. The guest of honour was her newly acquired friend from the amusement park. The cute button eyes stared back at Vivaldi and made her swoon every time she looked at it.<p>

She loved the rest of her guests, but they couldn't compare to the cuteness of Philomena. Philomena was a perfect name, Vivaldi decided. As grand as the cupcake tea party was, she wished she could have more stuffed animals like Philomena; then her party would be truly fabulous!

An annoying thought did spoil the party, much to Vivaldi's irritation. She couldn't figure out why Gowland would give her Philomena for free. She was well aware that she threatened the male role holders, so what reason could he have for handing Philomena over to her?

A warm smile appeared on her face as she looked back at Philomena when a thought struck her. It was so obvious! Vivaldi was aware of her reaction to cute things, especially cats, and knew Gowland must have saw it and mistaken it for infatuation for him. Frankly, this wasn't the only time her "cute face" had gotten her into misunderstandings with men. The first time she ran up to Boris to pet his ears was also the first time she slapped him and called him a bad kitty.

Vivaldi was certain she could use Gowland's confusion to her own benefit. After all, men are to be taken advantage of and she has the most difficult of men wrapped around her fingers. She could even seduce any of the role holders to bed with her, not that she would want to bed with any of them with the exception of her king.

He was the only one who seemed to be out of her manipulative reach. When she was a younger woman, she had many suitors in an attempt to make him jealous, but it never worked out. With a sigh, Vivaldi brought herself back to her tea party.

"What do you think, Philomena? How long do you think it will take us to squeeze out every plush the duke has?"

Philomena didn't get a chance to answer because there was a knock at the door.

"Who dares to disturb us? Do you dislike your head on your shoulders?"

"I-I'm sorry, your majesty!" the maid stuttered through the other side of the door, "I just have a message from Gowland and it's marked urgent."

_Gowland? _

Vivaldi was not expecting this and her thoughts of executing the maid vanished from her mind. "You may enter."

The maid quickly walked in, handed her the letter and quickly escaped before the queen was reminded of cutting off her head.

Vivaldi's eyes scanned Gowland's invitation to the park later that week. A smug smile tugged at her lips, "Well Philomena, it looks like we will be able to invite more of your friends to tea sooner than we expected."

This was going to be easier than she thought.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N. <strong>**  
><strong>I feel stupid for making an author's note about this, but a part of me feels it's necessary. I don't want to hear any whining about Boris being hormonal. I'm going off what I picked up from his route in the first game and I think it's safe to assume that most the role holders, with the exception of Peter, have had past relations before Alice. And really, he's a 16-19 year old male. So don't bug me about it. I will ignore you and hope that someday you will reach maturity.


End file.
